inspired by random and some not-so-random events and people in my life

Monday, March 27, 2006

To the Self Righteous

When I was 19, my friends and I went on a backpacking tour of Europe. In Florence, Italy, we met a group of American girls at our youth hostel. They hated everything about Europe, particularly the weather. We were puzzled. It was late April (or early May, I can’t quite remember). Temperatures ranged from 12 to 18 degrees in the day. It was cold for us, yes, but then we were used to tropical weather. Perhaps these girls were from Hawaii or some tropical part of the good ol’ US of A. Then we noticed that, to a T, they all wore skimpy tank tops and shorts, all the time. Surely that was not appropriate attire for Europe in spring? Little wonder they were cold. We had to ask. They whined, “But it was 100 degrees (Fahrenheit, or 38 degree Celsius) back home in Indianapolis…” Duh.

Moral of the story:

If you live life as if yours is the only perspective that matters, as if your reality is the only truth, then you are destined to make a fool of yourself sometime, somewhere, somehow.